I believe that the current expansion into online learning is starting to change this and all these online MOOCs offer additional study resources for students and educators to exploit. I believe there now needs to be a greater cohesion between face-to-face learning and online learning programs, as both offer merits that supports the other. Knowledge is great, but the human being evolved as a result of being a social animal.
I have bundled weeks 2 and 3 of the Understanding Language MOOC together because they are really two sides of the same coin.
Week 2: Language Teaching in the Classroom deals with traditional classroom based methods of teaching language
and
Week 3: Technology in Language Learning and Teaching deals with progressive forms of language acquisition and it's tutelage in today's digital focused world.
This reflection will be a short one mainly because I drew far less from weeks 2 and 3. The content of weeks 2 and 3 was not a poor quality, but rather it was mostly material that I had covered previous and from my point of view is pretty common sense.
Week 2: Language Teaching in the Classroom
The main emphasis of week 2 is on the classroom, the 'community' therein and how the construction of this collaborative community and the relationship between educators and students is intricately important in the acquisition of new languages.
A key point that is made is the difference between naturalist and classroom teaching which is to say that there exists a huge difference between learning a language in a classroom setting opposed to acquiring it by immersing yourself in the everyday culture for which the language you are learning is utilised.
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| A classroom is a community of practice. |
In addition to using the classroom setting to break down a language to it's conceptual foundations, the real challenge for language educators is to structure their programs of study in such a way as to also stimulate naturalists/spontaneous language exchange within in the classroom and its culture of students:
"in the 1970s and '80s, we went through a phase of thinking that classrooms should really imitate naturalistic language learning, and classrooms should be imitating first language learning. I think research in recent decades has told us that that's too simple a story, that classroom learning is a more complex business than that. Yes indeed, classrooms need to provide input, and need to provide a focus on meaning, and on learners making their own meanings, but classrooms also need to provide other things. First of all, it's been shown clearly that classrooms can help learners by actually developing their conceptual understanding of language, giving them key ideas that will help them make sense of the structure of the new language."
- Professor Rosamund Mitchell, Understanding Language educator
Unfortunately, I am not really interested in teaching language learning, only in learning a language and most of week 2's content was aimed at language educators.
The above point about the different between naturalist and classroom was not the only main point of the second week, but it is the only thing I have really taken from it - knowledge and experiential acquisition is not all done within the classroom, BUT the classroom can still help a great deal.
As ever, it's case of the best learning is done as a 50/50 split between practical and theoretical practice - something I learned while undertaking my undergraduate degree and presented as a welcome reminder here!
Certainly, I will be bearing this in mind when I do learn a language, whatever that language ends up being...
Week 3 of the Understanding Language MOOC was centered around the conceptual explorations of language learning in the digital classroom. A great deal of consideration was directed towards the differences between face to face learning and online learning and what makes an effective online educator.
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The basic success requirements of online learning.
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As this blog will testify, I am big on digital and online learning, as I have already gained a great deal from it and I can see that it has ongoing potential that has yet to be fully tapped into, as I said in the comments section of week 3:
"This is my 36th online course and I have used various different online learning platforms. Overall, I have found it be a vastly more rewarding experience compared to face-to-face learning. The flexibility and choice online learning offers you means that you can tailor your learning to meet the requirements of your own personal development criteria.
When I was at university, while I did adhere to the taught program of study, I found myself branching off to seek out other areas of learning that my degree program was not fulfilling, such as basic life and career skills that would enable me to actually utilise my degree when I graduated! This is a common complaint among students and academia seems to think it is okay to exist in a bubble that is far removed from reality.
I believe that the current expansion into online learning is starting to change this and all these online MOOCs offer additional study resources for students and educators to exploit. I believe there now needs to be a greater cohesion between face-to-face learning and online learning programs, as both offer merits that supports the other.
Knowledge is great, but the human being evolved as a result of being a social animal."
This social aspect was touched on briefly at the end of week 3 in the MOOC's consideration of connectivist learning.
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| Connectivist learning - I'm doing it with this blog! |
Connectivist learning basically refers to the sharing of informative resources and discussions via discussion forums, social networks, etc., and certainly with something like language acquisition, conducting in this connectivist on an international cyberspace, the usefulness of connectivist interactions in language learning should be plain.
However, as with the second week, the third week was mainly geared towards the students who aim to go and teach language, either in the classroom or online. OR, as I pointed out, to teach language vastly more effectively by utilising a combination of classroom and online teaching.
Ultimately, what these two weeks taught me is that if I do eventually learn a new language, then the process of learning I should employ is the process of learning I am already utilising.
Ultimately, what these two weeks taught me is that if I do eventually learn a new language, then the process of learning I should employ is the process of learning I am already utilising.
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